As the use of email grows, the need to archive or migrate email from client terminals to remote servers increases. Archiving or migration of email messages may be needed as a result of increased data usage and limited client computing capabilities, eDiscovery requirements, or compliance requirements. In some instances, email messages may be stored as part of a Personal Storage Table (.pst) file associated with Microsoft® Exchange. As part of an email archive system, all or a portion of a .pst file may be backed up from a client terminal to at least one remote server. Determining the proper owner of a .pst file for archival purposes is critical to ensure that the email messages are associated with the proper user and accurately stored for future retrieval. Traditional techniques for determining the owner of a .pst file require a network administrator to manually assign an owner or are based on various file or folder permissions. However, traditional techniques for determining the proper owner of a .pst file are time consuming and can be inaccurate.
In view of the foregoing, it may be understood that there may be significant problems and shortcomings associated with traditional email message ownership determination.